The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi

This is a discussion on The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi within Route / Travel Queries, part of the Travelogues category; Originally Posted by figo_united
Thanks. Any inputs on current condition of shiradi ghats?
How would this route be in terms ...

If you would like to do this route, take the gendehalli route from belur to mudigere. Roads are good, but this might add some additional kms in comparison with shiradi route, but this would be a enjoyable drive coz of the terrain.

Folks, need to travel to Horanadu later in the week. Need a suggestion - how is the road condition from Belur or Aldur (or does it touch Mudigere?) I wanted to explore the option of skipping Chikmagaur if possible.
Also, would help if I get the correct route from Belur, if advisable (road condition) to travel.

Yesterday I traveled via Shiradi and it rained for the first 4 hours. The Shiradi is slowly giving up. Many places it is turning into gravel. At one wide curve where you can do 80+ in dry season, I was doing 60 and suddenly I was drifting on gravel. Thankfully the 4WD got the control back in 2 seconds. It was hairy for a while.

Folks, need to travel to Horanadu later in the week. Need a suggestion - how is the road condition from Belur or Aldur (or does it touch Mudigere?) I wanted to explore the option of skipping Chikmagaur if possible.
Also, would help if I get the correct route from Belur, if advisable (road condition) to travel.

Just back from a drive to udupi(from mysore).
Took the above route mentioned by JMaruru. The roads were very good throughout (exceeded my expectations).
As Samurai mentioned, shiradi is slowly giving way, there are some stretches with small potholes, but no major suspension breaking potholes yet!
Drove early in the morning and it was very enjoyable.

While returning, visited kateel on the way and rejoined via BC road. The stretch from kateel to BC road was very scenic and enjoyable in the rain

Thanks a bunch! Any indications on the road conditions? I believe till Belur the roads are fine, how is it after that?

Just back from a trip to Horanadu and Kalasa. Road conditions are good overall barring a couple of small stretches where the road is broken.

Bangalore-Hassan-Belur : The road conditions range from good to excellent

Belur-Gendehalli-Mudigere: Initially, it is bumpy on the tank bund (just after Belur), after that it is a very good single road. There are a couple of bad stretches. One is just before Gendehalli and the other is just before Mudigere. Please note that there are no signboards indicating directions to Gendehalli at Belur. But after that, there are Kannada signboards showing direction and distance to Mudigere.

Mudigere-Kottigehara-Kalasa: Mudigere town to Mudigere Handpost (approx 2 kms) is ridden with potholes, but after that it is good all the way to Kottigehara. Kottigehara-Baalur Handpost is good, but has a small rough stretch. Baalur-Hirebailu is good. It gets rough for the next 10 kms towards Kalasa.

Just back from a trip to Horanadu and Kalasa. Road conditions are good overall barring a couple of small stretches where the road is broken.

Bangalore-Hassan-Belur : The road conditions range from good to excellent

Mudigere-Kottigehara-Kalasa: Mudigere town to Mudigere Handpost (approx 2 kms) is ridden with potholes, but after that it is good all the way to Kottigehara. Kottigehara-Baalur Handpost is good, but has a small rough stretch. Baalur-Hirebailu is good. It gets rough for the next 10 kms towards Kalasa.

Kalasa-Horanadu: This road is pretty rough and is bad in some places.

Thanks addy! Would you rather suggest I take the Chikmagalur-Balehonnur route? From your description, I guess the route you took seems fine except for probably a total distance of ~20kms? How much time did it take you to do this stretch? Finally, is the Kunigal bypass road complete?

Thanks addy! Would you rather suggest I take the Chikmagalur-Balehonnur route? From your description, I guess the route you took seems fine except for probably a total distance of ~20kms? How much time did it take you to do this stretch? Finally, is the Kunigal bypass road complete?

I haven't been on the Chikmagalur-Balehonnur-Magundi-Horanadu road off late, so I don't know about the road conditions. The Kottigehara-Kalasa route is fine and I don't think you will have any problem.

You can probably take one route for going and the other route while coming back. That way, you will not have to repeat the same routes

I'm not sure of the time, but I think we left Horanadu at 2 pm (not sure) and reached Hassan at around 5.30. In between, we stopped for sometime at the birth place of the Hemavati river (1.5 kms off the main road) near Javali (between Baalur and Hirebailu).

Kunigal bypass is open. But, watch out for oncoming traffic on your side of the road.

I haven't been on the Chikmagalur-Balehonnur-Magundi-Horanadu road off late, so I don't know about the road conditions. The Kottigehara-Kalasa route is fine and I don't think you will have any problem.

You can probably take one route for going and the other route while coming back. That way, you will not have to repeat the same routes

I'm not sure of the time, but I think we left Horanadu at 2 pm (not sure) and reached Hassan at around 5.30. In between, we stopped for sometime at the birth place of the Hemavati river (1.5 kms off the main road) near Javali (between Baalur and Hirebailu).

Kunigal bypass is open. But, watch out for oncoming traffic on your side of the road.

Ok - thanks again! I guess I'll take the Belur-Mudigere route while going and on the return stop by in Chikmagalur (my home town anyway

Just came back from Mangalore on Sunday. Overall the roads are good baring a few stretches in Shiradi ghats which are filled with pot holes and loose gravel and the numerous diversions on the Hassan Kunigal stretch. Overall a good enjoyable drive.